How to Use the Round Brush with Acrylics

I thought I would give you a bit of info on paint brushes. Talking about paint brushes is a HUGE topic so I decided to break it down. I'm going to simplify this by talking about each brush I use, one at a time.
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The first brush I'm going to talk about is the round brush. It's the most common and found in every art kit. This is the one I'm talking about below. 

Notice how the silver thing (called a Ferrule) is round. The bristles (or hairs) come to a point at the tip (called the toe). The bristles are not super long but not stubby either. If I were Goldie Locks I would call it, just right.  
The brush Ferrule and handle come in ALL different sizes and those sizes are not the same for each manufacturer so I think they are pointless. The ferrule needs to be tight against the handle or you lose hairs in your painting. This is common with inexpensive brushes. 
I look at a few main things when buying brushes. When I touch them to the palm of my hand are they too stiff or do they flop over. I want them to give when I put pressure on my hand but also bounce a little. I know it's not very unscientific but it works for me. 
These are the brushes I use and the brand keeps changing. You can find a link to them right here on my site. 

Nothing fancy about these brushes. I'm just not a brush snob no matter how hard I may try lol. 

Can you find the rounds? 

The very left I will call it #1 is a fan brush. From left to right #2, #4, #9, #10 are round brushes. These are rather small ones and used for more detailed work. #9 is the smallest and I use this for the most detail and my signature. 
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Bristles (the hair) can come from all sorts of animal hairs or be synthetically made. These are synthetic hair brushes which make them more durable. I use animal hair brushes with my oil paints and watercolors as they really soak in the paint and I desire that. With acrylics I find real hair leaves a stringy texture transferred into my painting. I like a smooth look, so I use a soft synthetic hair. 

How to use: The larger the brush the fatter the line will make with pressure on the brush. In my latest tutorial I showed you the brush strokes you can make while putting pressure on the brush creating branches for the tree. 

Round brushes are great for lines that vary in thickness or come to a point, but horrible for perfect lines. They are great for blotting irregularly for impressionistic tree leaves or for making more realistic  leaves , as well. 
They are not good for covering large areas even if the round brush is very large...I would use a flat brush instead, so I use rounds for more detailed work. 

I left some links above to watch on how I use this brush above to give you a more visual idea. I will talk about other brushes in future posts. 

If you have ANY questions feel free to ask. I would love to answer them.

I hope this was helpful. 

​Take Care,
Ashley Krieger

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